Aaron Broussard's co-defendant in their political corruption case looked favorably Friday on the former Jefferson Parish president's call for the presiding judge to disqualify the U.S. attorney's office and investigate prosecutorial misconduct. Tom Wilkinson, Broussard's parish attorney from 2004 to 2010, did not join in Broussard's request to the judge for an evidentiary hearing but said granting it "might bring facts to light, currently unknown to the court and the defendants, which could impact the course of these proceedings. ..."

"Accordingly, Mr. Wilkinson does not oppose Mr. Broussard's request," says the motion, filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans by Wilkinson attorneys Ralph Whalen and Richard Westling. (Read Wilkinson's motion.)

The cryptic motion was the latest development in a case that seemed all but settled when Broussard and Wilkinson pleaded guilty in September. That was before it became apparent that First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Maselli Mann, using a pseudonym, was posting online comments about the case on NOLA.com and that she had failed to disclose her actions when she reported to the judge July 2 on the office's investigation into online commenting by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sal Perricone.

The judge, Hayden Head Jr., invited Broussard and Wilkinson to respond to the Mann revelations, and Broussard did so Monday. While not asking to withdraw his guilty plea, he sought the recusal of the U.S. attorney's office and a judicial investigation into the prosecution's conduct throughout the case.

Head has not ruled on that motion.

Wilkinson let Monday's deadline to respond pass without a comment. But on Friday his attorneys filed a two-paragraph motion that amounts to an attempt to thread a needle's eye: Without endorsing Broussard's motion, they do not oppose it, thus keeping Wilkinson's options open for future relief should it Broussard prove successful and uncover major problems with the prosecution.